Variations

Forum Archive : Variations

 
Joker cube

From:   Joe Russell
Address:   ez2bblue@aol.com
Date:   2 May 2011
Subject:   Joker Cube
Forum:   BGonline.org Forums

While attending Justin and Rynell Nunez's wedding, I had a discussion with
Tom Fahland of the San Diego Backgammon Club concerning his new backgammon
invention -- the Joker Cube.

The Joker Cube is a second cube that is placed in the center at the start
of the game. It has no numbers. It is used by either player to force a re-
roll. Once a player uses it, the other player has possession of it, like
the regular cube.

I think it would be a very interesting side-event at a tournament and am
interested in what others think. I like the idea of the Joker Cube being
employed anytime before a man has been borne-off, as I think it would slow
play considerably once the bear-off had begun, especially against anchors,
while players considered using it or not, although playing with a clock
could alleviate this problem.

Bob Koca  writes:

There a few rules that need clarification.

1) Can it be used on the opening roll? If so is it both players again
   rolling?

2) Suppose that A has cube access, rolls, and then the reroll option is
   invoked (by either player). Before rerolling can A cube?

Tom Fahland  writes:

My thoughts were this: make backgammon even more skill and less luck. How
many times have we played great to loose to a 35-1/17-1 shot!

As far as the question about opening roll, yes it could be used then but I
would imagine that would be a mistake, ie, giving away the power of the
joker cube to a mere 3-1 opening seems like a waste.

This cube would also modify your play depending on if you owned it or not
(ie, you are blitzing, he has 2 men on the bar, you can leave him a double
5 to come in and hit, etc, things like that). I just think it adds a
measurable amount of increased skill and that same amount of less luck?

Steve Mellen  writes:

The strategies would be interesting. Despite the name of the variation,
saving your cube until your opponent hits a 17-1 or 35-1 shot is almost
surely suboptimal. The math changes even for simple situations -- imagine
the power of the joker cube in a simple pay-now decision, for example. A
12-number shot becomes a 4-number shot if you can force your opponent to
roll a hitting number twice in a row. Thus, a standard position with a
racing lead against an anchor becomes much stronger, which in turn affects
the value of many other positions.
 
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Variations

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Acey-deucy  (Lee+, Jan 1997) 
Acey-deucy  (John David Galt+, Dec 1995) 
Acey-deucy  (James Eibisch, Apr 1995) 
Backwards play  (Colin Bell+, Feb 1996) 
Bad advice  (Jason Lee+, Mar 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Best-of-n variant of match play  (Tim Chow+, Feb 2009) 
Bluff Cube  (Timothy Chow+, Dec 2012) 
BluffGammon  (Christian Munk-Christensen, June 2009) 
Cancelgammon  (Ilia Guzei+, Mar 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Domino backgammon  (Laury Chizlett, Sept 1999) 
Duodecagammon  (David Moeser, Dec 2000) 
Duplicate backgammon  (Dean Gay+, Jan 1997) 
Duplicate backgammon  (Albert Steg, Feb 1996) 
Exact bearoff  (Chris Moellering+, Dec 2002) 
Fevga  (George, Sept 2004) 
Fevga (or Moultezim)  (Igor Sheyn+, May 1995) 
Freeze-out match  (Dave Brotherton, July 1998) 
Gabgammon  (jckz, Oct 2005) 
Greek backgammon  (Alexandre Charitopoulos, Aug 2003) 
Greek backgammon  (Alexandros Chatzipetros, June 1997) 
Greek backgammon  (Marc Jacobs+, Feb 1994) 
Hit man  (Matt Reklaitis, Jan 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Hyper backgammon  (Gregg Cattanach+, Dec 2000) 
Hyper backgammon  (Michael A Urban, Oct 1993) 
International backgammon  (Bob Lancaster+, Oct 2002) 
Jacquet  (Mark Driver, June 2001) 
Joker cube  (Joe Russell+, May 2011) 
Khachapuri  (Michael Petch+, Sept 2010) 
Kleinman's tandem backgammon  (Fabrice Liardet+, May 2010) 
LongRun  (Bill Hickey, Mar 2010) 
Longgammon  (Michael Strato, Dec 2000) 
Low number first, fixed dice, others.  (Walter Trice, Jan 1997) 
Mexican  (Tom Henry, Apr 1997) 
Middle Eastern backgammon  (Alan Cairns, Mar 2002) 
Misere (backgammon to lose)  (Jason Lee+, July 2004)  [GammOnLine forum]
Misere (backgammon to lose)  (Jason Lee+, Apr 1995) 
Misere, Chase, Skewed dice  (Stein Kulseth, Jan 1997) 
Nackgammon  (Ken Arnold, July 1996) 
Nackgammon Shuffle  (Stick, Sept 2011) 
Nackgammon opening moves  (Warwick+, Feb 2002) 
Narde  (narde, Nov 2006)  [Long message]
Nardi  (KL Gerber+, Nov 2002) 
No hit  (RedTop+, May 2004) 
Nuclear backgammon  (Walt Swan, Apr 1997) 
Old English  (Nick Wedd+, Feb 1996) 
One roll lookahead  (Stephen Turner, Mar 1997) 
Opening slot rule  (Gregg Cattanach, June 2006) 
Other variations  (Douglas Zare, Feb 2000) 
Plakoto  (Ed Dengler+, May 1995) 
Plakoto  (Pasteel M., Feb 1994) 
Plakoto express  (Athansios Vagias, Feb 2005) 
Portes  (George, Sept 2004) 
Roll-over  (Edward D. Collins, Oct 1997) 
Russian backgammon  (Daavid Turnbull, Aug 1991) 
SassanGammon  (Chiva Tafazzoli+, June 2009) 
Shesh Besh  (G.S., May 2003) 
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Slot backgammon  (Fabrice Liardet+, Aug 2008)  [GammOnLine forum]
Sudden death, Woodpecker, Gerhardsen  (Fredrik Dahl, Jan 1997) 
Tablestakes betting  (TrueMoneygames, June 2002) 
Takhteh  (Bruce Scott+, Mar 2003) 
Tandem Backgammon  (Mislav Kovacic, Feb 2012) 
Tavla  (Arda Findikoglu, Nov 2004) 
Tavla  (ucc02cx+, Feb 1997) 
Tavli (Portes, Plakoto, and Fevga)  (Jens Larsen, July 1997) 
Tavli question  (Brus+, Apr 2011) 
Tracy turn around  (Michael J. Zehr, Feb 1996) 
Tri-gammon  (Gregg Cattanach, Sept 2000) 
Trictrac  (David Levy+, May 1998) 
Trigammon  (James Eibisch, Jan 1997) 

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